Heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane and challenger Josh Hokit went straight from the Octagon to a local hospital after Saturday’s UFC 334 main event at Madison Square Garden. Promotion officials confirmed to MMA Mania that both men were sent for precautionary CT scans of their heads and faces, and neither appeared at the post-fight press conference.
UFC broadcaster Brendan Fitzgerald announced the cancellation on the post-show. “Three hundred and eighty-eight total strikes absorbed between the two of them. Both have been transported to the hospital for CT scans,” Fitzgerald said. “So we will not hear from Ciryl Gane or Josh Hokit on the post-show tonight.” As of Sunday morning, the scan results had not been made public.
The numbers explain the caution. Gane and Hokit landed 541 combined strikes, a new UFC record for a heavyweight fight, according to Essentially Sports. The old mark belonged to Stipe Miocic and Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 65, at 407. Gane landed 170 significant strikes to Hokit’s head, and Hokit answered with 138 of his own.
View post on X
Gane (15-2, 1 NC) kept his undisputed title in his first defense, winning a unanimous decision with three identical 48-47 cards. Hokit, 29, came forward from the opening bell, eating jabs and uppercuts to drag the champion into a clinch fight full of slams, dirty boxing and elbows. That pace cost him late. Gane took over with cleaner shots and hard knees to the body, and he swept Rounds 4 and 5 on every card.
Hokit (10-1) took the first loss of his pro career, and this wasn’t his first ambulance ride of 2026. He beat Curtis Blaydes by unanimous decision at UFC 327 in Miami in April and was taken to the hospital afterward. Dana White said at that event’s press conference that Joe Rogan pitched putting Hokit on the White House card during the broadcast, and that the UFC got a yes from Hokit as he was climbing into the ambulance. He then stopped Derrick Lewis by second-round TKO at UFC White House to earn this title shot.
Essentially Sports noted this appears to be Gane’s first hospital trip after a UFC fight. The outlet also pointed out that a fighter skipping the presser isn’t rare (Ilia Topuria missed the Freedom 250 presser after his loss to Justin Gaethje), but losing both main event fighters to the hospital at once is unusual. MMA Mania added that the UFC routinely sends fighters for precautionary checks after damage-heavy five-rounders.
My take: the judges got this one right, and I’ll enjoy saying that while I can. Hokit’s pressure was real, and for long stretches it made Gane fight in a phone booth he hates. The championship rounds are where the fight was decided, though. Hokit’s output dipped, Gane started digging knees into a tired body, and the champion banked the two rounds that mattered on all three cards. That’s an adjustment by the more experienced fighter, and it held up on the cards. Hokit proved he belongs near the top of the division. Gane, assuming the scans come back clean, could be looking at the winner of Pereira vs. Pavlovich, which Essentially Sports reports is scheduled for UFC 335 in December.
